James Hardy

James Hardy is the former Head of Europe for Alibaba, who has vast experience in successfully taking brands into the Chinese market. He has also supported brands including Royal Mail to develop their business strategy to ensure long term growth. As a speaker, James calls on all his experience as a businessman and lawyer to provide energetic, engaging and above all else, educational sessions that will benefit any business audience looking to challenge its existing model and experience long term growth.  

James started his career in the legal sector as a Solicitor at Mishcon de Reya and Travers Smith. He then spent time as General Counsel to Next 15, Bite Communications and Text 100. However, in 2010 he moved away from legal work and became Director of Business Development and Operations for Text 100, overseeing the company’s offices in countries including China, India, and Australia. He also received an MA from Melbourne University while in the role. After almost two years in the role, he became Head of Europe for Alibaba. He was highly successful in the position and grew UK members by 70% and saw an 85% growth in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. 

His next position saw him become the Non-Executive Director of Atosho. He was with the company just under two years before he became CEO of Avenue 51. The company quickly became the UK’s biggest China-eCommerce exporter and helped brands across Europe enter the Chinese market with great success. More recently James has been a business consultant. Using his own experiences, he supports businesses of all sizes develop their eCommerce strategies and look at areas of opportunities to help them grow. His expertise has also been called upon by leading press outlets across the world. He has appeared in China Today, The Guardian and the Huffington Post amongst other leading outlets. James’s work saw him awarded a Queen's Award and named in the Financial Times’ Leap 100. 

Available to hire as a speaker, James Hardy is a fantastic choice for any business audience. He covers areas such as building innovative cultures and how they benefit a business and ultimately looks at how businesses can disrupt their traditional ways of working to become more successful. Not just talking about helping businesses succeed though, James leaves every audience with actionable takeaways to help them put into practice what he has spoken about, meaning his speeches have a long-term impact on the audience.